


Arts and Crafty

by orphan_account



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, First Kiss, Fluff, Like PURE fluff, M/M, Oblivious Bucky Barnes, Pining Bucky Barnes, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-31 01:03:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8556667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Bucky has been pining after Steve for years, and now it's their senior year of high school and he has to do something while he still has the chance. Through his best friend Clint's meddling, he ends up getting Steve's help on an art project, but who knows what will happen after that. Or, a generic high school AU that manages to be cute anyway.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know why I wrote this, there are better and more original high school AUs, including another one I have planned, but this was a short and sweet fun thing to write so here we are.

Bucky arrived at school early, like he did every morning, and sat at a desk in the library, like he did every morning. He picked up his book, like always, and like always, he opened to the page he had left off on the night before and proceeded to gaze over the top of the pages, past the words, and across the library. At Steve Rogers.

Steve was…well, he was something else. He was tiny and had a lot of health problems, and he wore thick rimmed glasses and hearing aids and…and he was the most beautiful thing Bucky had ever seen. Steve usually came here to draw in the mornings, and so Bucky came to secretly watch Steve.

“Hey Bucky!”

Which apparently wasn’t going to happen this morning.

Bucky looked up at the sound, and for a moment (one beautiful, perfect, and tremendously awkward moment) he and Steve locked eyes, before Bucky looked past him to see Clint headed for him.

“Clint,” said Bucky when Clint was close enough. He gritted his teeth but remained calm. “Haven’t I told you my morning time is sacred?” His eyes flickered back over to Steve and he hoped Clint didn’t notice.

He didn’t. “Yeah, I know. Not sure why, but if you don’t want to tell us then that’s your deal I guess. But I’m bored and Natasha is visiting a university today so here we are.”

Bucky sighed and scooted over so Clint could sit next to him. He flicked his eyes over to Steve one more time, and…oh.

Steve’s pencil was scratching against his sketchbook in careful strokes as he furrowed his brow at the page. His blond hair (which looked impossibly soft and Bucky just wanted to run his fingers through it and…) flopped into his eyes and he kept pushing his fingers through it to keep it back. At that moment, as if to taunt him, a beam of light came down from one of the skylights in the library ceiling and hit Steve perfectly, illuminating him at the exact moment that he set down his pencil to stretch his hands.

Bucky let out a low whimper despite himself.

“Um, you okay there, bud?” Clint said, giving Bucky a concerned look. Bucky blushed and opened and shut his mouth a few times while Clint followed his gaze.

“Darcy Lewis?” Clint said in disbelief, and Bucky looked past Steve to where the dark haired girl was browsing the shelves.

“Christ, Clint, how many times do I have to tell you I’m gay? Do I have to spell it out for you? H-O-M-O-S-E—”

“Okay, okay, I get it. So that leaves…” Clint narrowed his gaze while Bucky sighed and hid his face behind his book. “Steve Rogers?”

Bucky groaned.

“I mean, I guess he’s pretty cute, if you’re into that kind of thing.”

_ “Pretty cute?” _ Bucky stared at Clint in disbelief. Straight boys were so weird. “Three words for you, my friend: Hands. Of. Sex.”

Clint spluttered. “What?”

Bucky looked around quickly, then turned back to Clint and whispered, “Hands of sex. He has hands of sex. They’re so…”

“Yeah, okay, I think you’ve repeated yourself enough times. What are you gonna do about it?”

Bucky blinked. “Do about it?”

“Yeah, I mean, how long has this been going on? Are you gonna ask him out or something?”

Bucky buried his face in his book. “It’s been since freshman year,” he mumbled.

“It’s what?” Clint said, tapping his hearing aid.

Bucky straightened up and enunciated clearly this time. “Freshman year.”

“Shit, dude. And you haven’t said anything about it? You gotta ask him before we graduate.”

Bucky groaned. “I just don’t know how. What do you even say to someone in this situation?  _ ‘Hi, I’ve been stalking you for three and a half years without saying a word to you, wanna date?’ _ No way.”

Clint rolled his eyes. “Obviously you’re not gonna say it like that. Just ask him if he likes coffee or something. Easy.”

“Says you.”

“Come on, we’ll make this happen. We’ll call it ‘Operation: Get Bucky a Date’ and we’ll get Natasha in on it and—”

“No, no, no, this is why I didn’t tell you, because I knew you’d make a big deal out of it and try to force me into something—”

“Bucky. Sometimes people need a little push. Consider this your push, from me.”

Bucky sighed. “What do you suggest I do?”

Clint grinned. “Well, if you’re shy about just walking up to him and asking him out, maybe you should start slow, warm him up a bit, you know.  _ Seduce _ him.”

Bucky stared at Clint blankly. “Seduce him.”

“Yeah, man, use some of your…seductive wiles on him.”

“Wiles.”

“Listen, Bucky, just go up and start a conversation. Is he in any of your classes?”

“Biology.”

“Okay, so ask him for help sometime.”

“Clint, I’m at the top of the class and everyone knows it.”

“Oh yeah, you’re good at science, I forgot. Well, you could always ask him if he needs help.”

“Somehow I feel like it would be a bad move to insult his intelligence. He seems kind of prickly.”

“And you like him because…”

Bucky opened his mouth to answer.

“Ah yeah, hands of sex, you don’t need to tell me again, I just remembered.”

“Well, yeah, that, but look at him. He’s so smart and talented and cute and he’s actually pretty funny if you pay attention, which I do, and he’s got those artist fingers that just—”

“OKAY,” Clint said, “moving on.”

“Sorry.”

“Okay, well, any other classes?”

“I have an Intro to Drawing class that he…well, he’s not really in it, but he does an independent art study at the same time I’m in the room, so I see him then.”

“I  _ know _ you suck at art, ask him for help with that!”

“I don’t want to bother him, though, he always seems really busy.”

“Bucky, buddy, pal. Not to be weird, but you’re pretty cute. I swear it won’t bother him if you go up to him.”

“Um…thanks?”

“Don’t worry about it, man.”

“So what do you want me to do? Just walk up to him?”

“Now you’re getting it! C’mon man, just do it, I swear it’ll be okay.”

Bucky drew in a shaky breath as he marked his place in his book with a strip of paper and set the book down. “Okay. Here I go. Wish me luck.”

He walked across the library, wiping his palms on his pants, and he dithered as he drew closer to Steve’s table. He was about to either turn around or just walk past him when they locked eyes and he froze. He continued to remain frozen as he took in the sight of Steve, vibrant blue eyes framed by long, dark lashes and thick glasses frames, golden hair still falling into his eyes, his long, elegant fingers grasping his pencil.

“Can I help you?” Steve said after the silence had stretched on for several long moments.

“I—um—you see—”

“Hmm?” Steve looked unimpressed.

“Um, nothing. Sorry.” Bucky shook his head and kept walking past him.

As he studied the bookcase behind Steve, he pondered every life decision that had led up to this moment. Realizing that most everything leading up to this had been involuntary on his part and that therefore there was nothing he could have done to avoid this, he instead wondered what he had done to deserve this. He concluded, after a couple minutes of pretending to browse the shelves and picking up books and putting them back without looking at them, that it had probably been the time he pushed Clint into the pool. Yes, that was it. This was just retribution—not on Clint’s part, but on the part of the universe.

He looked down at the book in his hands, frowned, and put it back. He turned around to return to his seat next to Clint. He met Clint’s eye across the room and Clint shook his head in disappointment. Bucky gave him a “What do you want me to do?” shrug and then looked over to see Steve regarding him with a curious expression. He blushed and rushed past, back to his desk.

“What the hell happened?” Clint hissed.

“I panicked! He looked right at me and I could barely speak.”

“Not really the basis of a solid relationship,” Clint said sagely.

“You think I don’t know that? But god, he turns me into a fucking human disaster. I just don’t know what to do about it.”

“You go back up to him and you ask him out.”

“After whatever the hell that was back there? No way.”

“Fine, we’ll resort to my kind of measures. He’s friends with Sam, Peggy, Tony, that crowd, but they have a different lunch period than him because of all his art classes so he’s kind of a loner at lunch. All we have to do is sit next to him and he’ll have to accept you into his life.”

“Um, Clint. What makes you so sure he won’t tell us to fuck right off?”

Clint shrugged. “I dunno, just a feeling, I guess.”

Bucky huffed and was about to argue when the bell rang. He grabbed his things and made his way to the door. He reached it, coincidentally, at the same time as Steve. He gestured for Steve to go ahead and then wistfully watched him walk away. Clint patted his shoulder and Bucky gulped and walked on to class.

 

***

 

Bucky pursed his lips as he walked into Biology in the late morning. Steve was already there, and Bucky paused in the doorway as he stared at the back of his head.

“Excuse me,” said a voice behind him, and he turned to see Peggy Carter behind him.

“Oh, god, sorry,” he said as he shuffled out of her way and continued to his seat. As he settled into his chair he caught both Steve and Peggy glancing over at him and he felt his cheeks warm.

The teacher started talking and Bucky tried to focus his attention on her, but his eyes kept drifting involuntarily toward Steve. Every so often, he or Peggy would lean in and whisper a comment and the other would snicker. Bucky wanted to make Steve laugh like that.

The class simultaneously took way too long and was entirely too short. On the one hand, Bucky wanted to get the hell out and go home. On the other hand, any moment spent anywhere near Steve’s presence was incredibly precious to him, and he didn’t want that part of his day to be over. As he rose out of his seat, he watched Steve do the same and sighed softly to himself.

He remembered as he walked out the door to go to lunch that Clint was still planning to ambush Steve in a misguided attempt to get him to…fall into Bucky’s arms? That was never going to happen. Bucky sighed, shaking his head to himself as he descended the staircase.

In the cafeteria, he saw that Steve had somehow already found his seat (how did he get past Bucky without him noticing?) and was picking at a sandwich while staring down into the table. Bucky searched across the cafeteria and spotted Clint coming in from the doors on the other side of the room. He caught Clint’s eye and Clint waggled his eyebrows. Bucky huffed and walked across the room to join him.

“Ready, pal?” Clint asked.

“No, I still think this is ridiculous.”

“Great, let’s go!”

“Clint, hey—” But Clint was already making his way over to Steve. “Fuck.” Bucky trailed after him, making a face as he watched Clint waltz up  to Steve and start talking to him.

“I’m—” he started as he drew closer to them, about to apologize for his friend’s behavior and drag him away, when Steve laughed. Bucky blinked hard at the sound, eyes darting between Steve and Clint. “Um.”

“Hey, do you wanna take a seat?” Steve said. What had Clint said? Bucky blinked another few times.

“Sure,” Clint said. “Hey, this is my friend Bucky.”

Steve turned around and looked Bucky up and down. “Oh yeah. I saw you this morning.”

“Um,” Bucky said again.

“Aren’t you in my Bio class too?”

“Yes.”

“And in Intro to Drawing, I’ve seen you there too. During my—”

“Independent study, yeah.” Bucky realized a moment later what he’d said when Steve’s eyebrows raised. “I mean, I just overheard that you’re doing that. Yeah. And you’re in there a lot, but you’re not a part of the class, and I—”

“Bucky, why don’t you come sit next to me?” Clint interjected.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Bucky tore his eyes away from Steve’s perplexed face to go to the other side of the table and sit next to Clint and directly across from Steve. He could feel his face warming. Shit, Steve probably thought he was an idiot now. If he hadn’t before, which he probably did.

“Hey, speaking of art,” said Clint. Oh. Oh no. Bucky turned to Clint with wide eyes, trying to communicate how much he did not want him to finish that sentence, but Clint wasn’t looking at him. “You’re good at drawing, and Bucky is, well, not, so  _ I _ was thinking, what if you helped him out?”

Bucky turned to face Steve, eyes still wide. Steve was already looking at him, a contemplative expression on his face. Bucky gulped. “You don’t have to,” he said quickly. “Only if you have the time, and even then, I mean, if it’s a pain for you, like, AT ALL, then—”

“No no,” said Steve, “I’ll do it.”

“What?” said Bucky.

“I’ll help you with your drawing. You busy this afternoon?”

“Um, no, I don’t think so.”

“Wanna come to my place then?”

Bucky’s eyes widened impossibly further. “Yeah, sure.”

“Don’t forget your sketchbook.”

“Right.”

After that, the conversation settled into an easy back and forth between Steve and Clint while Bucky stared down at his sandwich in an effort to not stare at Steve instead. It mostly worked. Mostly.

The bell rang and Bucky leapt out of his seat, avoiding either Steve’s or Clint’s gaze. He chewed his lip as he gathered his things and then looked up. Steve was also gathering his things, all while fixing Bucky with an odd stare. Bucky darted his eyes away. He realized immediately after that he and Steve were going the same direction, toward the art room. Steve turned around and Bucky trailed after him, shooting a glance over to Clint, who gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up. Bucky scowled and followed Steve out of the cafeteria.

He maintained enough of a distance behind Steve that there was no opportunity to talk. He thought he was in the clear until that afternoon, until he was setting his things down at his table and Steve materialized next to him.

“I should probably get your phone number. Just in case.”

“Oh! Yeah,” said Bucky, digging a slip of paper and a pencil out of his bag. He scrawled down his number and handed it to Steve. Their fingers brushed for a moment and Bucky gulped. Steve just smiled and returned to the back of the room where he always worked. Bucky looked after him, watching him as he gathered together his supplies with his back to the room, until their teacher cleared her throat to get their attention. He whipped back around and tried to focus on class, but his mind kept straying to that afternoon. Knowing him, he was probably going to make a complete fool of himself. He was pretty sure he was unbelievably obvious about his feelings, and that once Steve spent any amount of time alone with him, he’d figure it out. And then of course, he’d get freaked out and never speak to Bucky again. That was the only outcome Bucky could imagine, anyway. Imagining any other outcome came dangerously close to getting his hopes up, which was the last thing he wanted to do.

He was so fucked.

 

***

 

“See now, there are a few rules to remember about proportions. For example, right now you’re drawing the eyes too far apart. There should be about one eye’s width between them…”

Bucky stared up at Steve as Steve explained to Bucky everything that he was doing wrong in his drawings. Steve was so smart. So talented. So out of Bucky’s league. The walk back to Steve’s place had been kind of awkward, with neither of them really knowing what to say, but as soon as Steve had seen Bucky’s sketches he had launched into Art Mode and now he was leaning over Bucky’s right shoulder, his arm reaching around with a pencil to lightly sketch a visual aid for what he was talking about. Bucky wasn’t really looking at the visual aid. He was looking at Steve, the way his hair was currently falling into his sparkling blue eyes, which were lit up with passion as he talked. Bucky’s eyes flickered down to Steve’s full, pink lips and he briefly imagined what it would be like to kiss them. God, he just wanted to kiss Steve senseless. But that was a bad idea. Steve would not go for it and it wasn’t worth the risk.

“You listening, Buck?”

Bucky’s eyes flicked back up to meet Steve’s. Steve, who was now looking at him with amusement. “Um, yeah. ‘Course I am.”

“Good. Now another thing you’ll want to remember…”

Bucky went back to trying to focus on Steve’s words instead of just the mouth they were coming out of it. It was not easy, as it turned out. Finally, Steve took a step back and placed his hands on his hips. “Are you even listening to me?”

“I’m—I—”

“Listen, I know your friend kind of pushed you into this and that you probably really would rather be somewhere else, but he did it because he’s a good friend and he’s concerned about how you’re doing in your classes.”

This…was not what Bucky had been expecting.

“Listen, do you wanna do something else for a while and then come back to this?”

“Like what?”

“I dunno, order pizza? Watch TV?”

“Uh, sure. Yeah. That might help.” Just then Bucky’s phone went off.

Steve smirked. “I’ll go downstairs and call the pizza place. You get that and then meet me down there.”

Bucky fumbled to answer his phone before it went to voicemail. “Hello?”

“Bucky, where are you.” It was his sister Becca. Shit.

“Did I forget to tell you? I went to Steve’s after school.”

“Wait, Steve as in Cute Steve?”

“Oh my god.”

“It is isn’t it?” she shrieked.

“Oh my god, will you keep it down? I’m at Steve’s, he’s helping me with my art project and we’re ordering pizza.”

“Is this a date?”

“What? No, of course not, why would it be—you know what, I’ll see you later.”

“Bucky, wait—”

He hung up and crept downstairs. After a minute of wandering he found Steve on the couch in the living room, flicking through Netflix.

“Is Brooklyn Nine Nine okay with you?” he asked, looking up as Bucky walked in.

“Brooklyn Nine Nine is great.”

They sat in relative quiet until the doorbell rang and Steve paused the show to get the pizza. On his way back, he paused in the doorway, taking in the sight of Bucky slightly curled in on himself, gnawing on a fingernail.

“Are you…” Steve said, then paused to readjust his glasses. “Are you  _ nervous? _ ”

“W-what makes you think that?” Bucky said, and then flinched at his stutter. That was it, game over. Steve had to know now.

“Well, for one thing, you haven’t really stopped blushing or fumbling all afternoon.”

“I just, I uh, well…”

“And then there’s  _ that.” _

Bucky took a deep breath, standing. “I’m sorry, I should have known this was a bad idea. I should have known how obvious it would be that I like you and that it would make you uncomfortable and really, I should just go, I’ll get my things and leave you alone—”

“Bucky,  _ Bucky, _ wait!” Steve stepped forward, setting the pizza down on the table, and reached out to touch Bucky’s arm. Bucky froze instantly. Steve realized and dropped his hand and Bucky immediately regretted doing anything to make Steve stop touching him. Which then made him feel kind of gross. “Bucky, you can’t just drop something like that and then walk out.”

“Drop something like what?”

Steve looked frustrated and huffed. “That you like me.”

“Oh. I…thought you knew.”

“What?”

“And I thought maybe it would make you uncomfortable if you found out and I didn’t want to do that to you.” Bucky was at this point staring down at the ground, refusing to look Steve in the eye.

Steve apparently was getting fed up with Bucky, because he reached up and grabbed Bucky’s chin to tilt his gaze toward Steve’s face. Bucky felt his face flame, but there was something in Steve’s expression that stopped him from looking away. 

“And you didn’t think to give me a choice in all this?” Steve said and oh, that was a good point he was making right there and didn’t Bucky feel like an idiot. “I mean, you were just gonna keep this from me without giving me any say in whether I like you too?”

What?

Bucky’s confusion must show on his face because Steve continues. “Bucky. Buddy. Granted, I don’t know you that well. You haven’t really given me the chance to. But I do know a few things. I know you’re smart as hell, and funny, and I’ve seen you stand up for people before when you didn’t have to.” He smirked. “And it doesn’t hurt that you’re cute, either.”

Bucky gulped. “I didn’t even know if you were…”

Steve laughed. “I’m not straight, if that’s what you mean.”

“Oh. Good. I mean—”

Steve unexpectedly ran his fingers through Bucky’s hair, effectively quieting him. “I know, Buck, you don’t have to explain.”

Bucky closed his eyes against the feeling of Steve’s hand in his hair, trying not to let any emotion show on his face.

“Can I kiss you, Buck?”

Bucky’s eyes and mouth both flew open. “I—”

“You don’t have to say yes if you’re too nervous or if you just don’t want to but I—”

Before he could really stop himself, Bucky was quieting Steve by reaching up and running his thumb along Steve’s lips. Steve’s eyes fluttered before reopening to meet Bucky’s gaze more directly than before as he slung his arms around Bucky’s neck and pulled him forward, crashing their lips together. Bucky’s heart hammered away in his chest as he reached down and pulled Steve closer by his hips. They fumbled together for a few moments before their lips really found their rhythm but it was…everything to Bucky. Everything he could have hoped for.

“Pizza’s getting cold,” Bucky finally mumbled against Steve’s lips.

“Oh god, I forgot about that,” Steve said, pulling away to open the box. They each grabbed a slice and then just looked at each other for a moment.

“So do you wanna go on a real date some time?” Steve said.

Bucky blinked. “I, um, yeah. Yeah, of course.”

“Good,” said Steve, and he pressed play on their show, turning to face front.

Bucky nestled into the couch and pretended to watch the show while really watching Steve.

When he gathered up his things to go home, Steve snuck up behind him and kissed his cheek. Bucky turned around, blushing, to see Steve grinning up at him.

“I’ll text you?” Steve said.

“Yeah, that would be great.” Wow, a sentence where he didn’t stammer. Bucky was making progress. “I better get home.”

Steve walked Bucky to the door and as Bucky walked out into the night, waving to Steve, he thought that he should probably thank Clint for his godawful meddling. Probably.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is hearteyesmonroe so come visit me and yell about these two adorable boys with me! Kudos and comments are always appreciated as well. Thanks for reading!


End file.
